If you’re a team on a tight budget in FIFA 16 career mode, getting talent doesn’t have to be costly – just get one of these super cheap high potential players. If you liked my series on the best cheap high potential players in FIFA 16 but felt they were too expensive, these are the articles for you – every player will cost you £1m or less!

If you’re not sure what these articles are all about, click the bold link below. Otherwise, let’s get straight in to the article.

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These articles aim to highlight young, high potential players that are priced at £1m or less. If a player is not available to buy straight away, their maximum price (in the ‘Cost’ column; see below) is £500,000. Most articles will showcase players with a minimum potential of 76 (although in some cases having a minimum potential of 77 brought back more than enough players).

This year I made a couple of exceptions to the price rules. I have included players whose clubs want £1.1m for them (as opposed to a maximum price of £1m) because you can negotiate this down to under £1m, and in some cases excluding these players meant to articles were lacking players you could actually buy straight away! For the same reason I have bumped the £500,000 rule up to just under £600,000 (e.g. £525,000, £575,000, etc).

The ‘Avai?’ column is short for ‘available?’ and refers both to whether or not you can buy the specified player at the start of the first season and how long their current contract is. Let’s take Y/2 as an example – Y means that yes, you can buy him at the start of a new career, and the number means he has two years left on his contract. Similarly, N/3 would mean that no, you can’t buy the player straight away, and he has three years left on his contract. These ‘no’ players are often available for transfer if you wait until the January transfer window, however. For some players this column is blank – this means that they are out on loan at the start and are therefore unavailable for purchase until the second season.

The figure in the player cost column refers to the price you are given if you scout the player. There’s also another column – ‘Enquiry’. This refers to the price the other team want for the player if you enquire about him. Often there is a large difference between the player cost obtained through scouting and that obtained through an enquiry. This leaves a lot of room for negotiation, so don’t be put off if a price in the ‘Enquiry’ column is high, as you can usually get the player for much less. Try bidding lower than what you think will be accepted – you may be surprised at their response. If the ‘Enquiry’ column is blank it’s because the team refused to give a price, either because the player has just joined them or because they are loaning him in.

And as a final note, in FIFA 16 EA update player OVRs and potentials every week. Mose of the time these are very minor changes, and most players won’t be affected at all unless they have had a very noteworthy week. Furthermore, some players occasionally disappear if they have been put in the reserve squad that week. So just bear in mind that these figures should be read as a guide only and not a definitive account of player costs, potentials, etc, for the entire season.

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In my Lower League Gems series, goalscorer strikers are usually pacey and have good dribbling; for strong forwards who are good in the air, you’ll want my target men guide.

Here’s who I picked out as the best cheap, bargain goalscorer strikers under £1m.

Thomas Olivier Amang: potential 79

Thomas Olivier Amang is well-rounded in every way

Overtraining players can stunt their physical growth, but Thomas Olivier Amang is the perfect player to train because his physical stats are already great. His 86 acceleration and 83 sprint speed make him absolutely rapid, and his 85 balance will help him weave in and out of defenders. He’s also pretty strong for his size and his 90 jumping means he can win aerial battles too.

What I also like about him is that his technical stats are all nicely balanced. He can dribble, shoot and head the ball pretty much equally well, which means that as he develops he’ll become a lethal striker in all areas. Don’t forget that you can train him plenty and he should still be fine, meaning he could well exceed his 79 potential.

Molde FK want £550,000 for him so you can get him for as little as £400,000. His wages are £1,000.

Emre Mor: potential 79

Emre Mor has incredible dribbling for his OVR

Don’t be fooled by his 61 OVR; Emre Mor is far better than you’d expect. That’s because he comes with 80 ball control and 80 dribbling – yes, you read that right – which is absolutely sensational for that kind of OVR. It will make him near unstoppable in the box at lower league level, and defenders just won’t be able to get close to him.

He’s pacey, too, so can easily be played on the wing if you like (and his OVR goes up to 64 on the wing). But with his dribbling skills, I’d keep him up front, where his amazing close control will bag him plenty of goals. Just imagine how good he’ll be when he gets near his 79 potential!

You can’t buy him straight away, but enquire in the January transfer window and FC Nordsjælland will want £600,000 for him. You can negotiate that down to around £425,000; his wages are £1,250.

Conor Chaplin: potential 76

Conor Chaplin’s pace will be devastating at lower league level

Here’s another player who will perform better than you’d expect: Conor Chaplin. He’s not as well-rounded as Amang or as good at dribbling as Mor, but Chaplin is a different type of striker – he’s a single-minded poacher. His finishing is almost in the 70s and is much better than you normally see on players with 60 OVR, and combined with his lightning pace – 86 acceleration and 83 sprint speed – it means he’ll be getting into dangerous spaces and putting away his chances.

At lower league level that’s going to be highly effective, where defenders won’t be able to cope with his pace and goalkeepers won’t keep out his shots. Buy him and he’ll play much better than his OVR suggests.

He’s cheap, too. Portsmouth want £450,000 for him but you can get that down to around £300,000. His wages are £750.

Now here are the other cheap, high potential goalscorer strikers under £1m in FIFA 16:

Pos

Name

OVR

Pot.

Age

Cost (£)

Enquiry (£)

Wages (£)

Club

Avai?

Foot

Weak foot

Skills

Traits

Notes

ST

Tyler Roberts

60

80

16

250,000

-

2,250

West Brom

N/6

Right

3

3

ST

Dimitri Oberlin

61

80

17

325,000

-

1,250

RB Salzburg

N/3

Right

3

2

ST

Cristo González

64

80

17

600,000

925,000

2,000

CD Tenerife

Y/1

Right

3

4

Flair

ST

Yann Karamoh

59

79

16

220,000

400,000

1,750

SM Caen

Y/3

Right

3

3

ST

Maximiliano Lovera

59

79

16

220,000

425,000

1,000

Rosario Central

Y/3

Right

3

3

ST

Thomas Olivier Amang

61

79

17

325,000

550,000

1,000

Molde FK

Y/6

Right

3

2

ST

Emre Mor

61

79

17

325,000

-

1,250

FC Nordsjælland

N/4

Left

3

2

Flair

ST

Taiwo Awoniyi

61

79

17

325,000

-

1,500

FSV Frankfurt

N/3

Right

3

3

ST

Kasper Dolberg

62

79

17

400,000

-

1,500

Ajax

N/3

Right

3

2

ST

David Faupala

63

79

18

475,000

-

3,000

Manchester City

N/3

Right

3

2

ST

Ademola Lookman

59

78

16

220,000

-

1,750

Charlton Ath

N/5

Left

4

2

ST

Rushian Hepburn-Murphy

60

78

16

250,000

-

2,250

Aston Villa

N/2

Right

3

3

ST

Nicola Dalmonte

61

78

17

325,000

525,000

1,500

Cesena

Y/6

Left

3

2

ST

Bradford Jamieson IV

62

78

18

400,000

600,000

1,000

LA Galaxy

Y/6

Right

3

3

ST

Dawid Kownacki

63

78

18

475,000

775,000

1,000

Lech Poznań

Y/2

Right

2

3

Injury prone

ST

Ramil Sheydaev

64

78

19

650,000

775,000

5,000

Zenit

Y/1

Right

4

3

ST

George Miller

55

77

16

140,000

240,000

1,000

Bury

Y/3

Right

3

2

CF

Kuki Zalazar

61

77

17

325,000

-

2,000

Málaga CF

N/4

Left

3

3

ST

Andre Wright

61

77

18

325,000

-

2,250

West Brom

N/1

Right

3

2

ST

Che Adams

62

77

18

400,000

725,000

1,000

Sheffield Utd

Y/3

Right

4

3

Acrobat

ST

Gian-Luca Waldschmidt

62

77

19

425,000

625,000

2,000

Eint. Frankfurt

Y/2

Left

3

3

Injury prone

ST

Sander Svendsen

65

77

17

575,000

775,000

2,000

Molde FK

Y/2

Right

4

3

Finesse shot, flair

CF

Anton Terekhov

57

76

17

160,000

275,000

1,750

Dinamo Moscow

Y/4

Right

3

3

ST

Bright Enobakhare

58

76

17

190,000

-

1,750

Wolves

N/2

Right

3

2

ST

Conor Chaplin

60

76

18

275,000

450,000

750

Portsmouth

Y/3

Left

3

3

ST

Ilyes Chaïbi

60

76

18

275,000

425,000

1,750

AS Monaco

Y/2

Right

3

3

ST

Jordan Larsson

62

76

18

400,000

62,5000

1,000

Helsingborgs IF

Y/3

Left

3

2

ST

Yaw Yeboah

63

76

18

400,000

*

1,750

LOSC Lille

-

Right

2

3

On loan from Manchester City

ST

Ryan Seager

62

76

19

425,000

450,000

2,250

Southampton

Y/3

Right

3

2

ST

Vittorio Parigini

62

76

19

425,000

*

2,000

Perugia

-

Right

3

3

On loan from Torino

ST

Younes Bnou-Marzouk

64

76

19

525,000

525,000

3,000

Angers SCO

Y/1

Right

3

3

ST

Patrick Joosten

64

76

19

525,000

-

3,000

FC Utrecht

N/3

Right

3

3

ST

Youssef Benali

64

76

20

575,000

700,000

3,000

Toulouse FC

Y/1

Right

4

3

ST

Souleymane Coulibaly

64

76

20

575,000

*

750

Newport County

-

Right

4

3

On loan from Peterborough

ST

João Paulo

66

76

18

625,000

1,100,000

2,000

São Paulo

Y/4

Left

2

3

ST

Abdul Rahman Al Ghamdi

67

76

20

825,000

1,000,000

5,000

Al Ittihad

Y/5

Left

3

3

Thanks for reading! If you have any player recommendations of your own or have some ideas for the website, make sure you let me know in the comments below.

It’s something to do with licensing, but I don’t know if it’s down to the player, their club, their agent, their league or some combination. I’m sure it’s fairly complicated but you’d think a company of EA’s size would be able to throw its weight around a bit.

Sure. FIFA calculates a player’s growth based on both physical and technical stats. E.g. growing a point in strength can help a centre back increase his OVR as much as growing a point in marking can (roughly).

So for argument’s sake, let’s say a player could grow +1 strength and +1 marking and that would result in him growing +1 OVR. Alternatively, he could grow +2 marking and grow nothing in strength and he’d still grow +1 OVR, because both physical and technical stats contribute to OVR growth.

The problem is that training only affects technical stats (except stamina). So if a player is consistently growing lots in his technical stats because he’s being trained lots, the game will think that he doesn’t need to grow anything in his physical stats because he’s had so much technical stat growth, and that’s contributing towards his OVR growth.

You can therefore end up with a player who grows absolutely loads in terms of his technical stats, but grows nothing in his physical stats, because he hasn’t needed the physical stat growth to help his OVR increase. That’s what I mean by his physical growth being stunted through overtraining.